Gaolathe speaks on UDC manifesto

Oarabile Mosikare | Friday June 13, 2014 15:43

Gaolathe said ordinary citizens who are not part of the UDC were also involved, “because it is the people out there who should, subsequently, inform the direction we choose to take as a country”. 

He said the drafting of the manifesto was a UDC project and was not based on individual parties advancing any preferences.   “If the question is whether members from each of the parties were involved, then the answer is yes indeed they were all involved, in many forms,” Gaolathe said.  

He added: “This process persevered in parallel with the negotiating process of the three contracting parties (the BNF, BPP and BMD).  This policy crystallisation process necessarily comprised representatives from the contracting parties.”

Once this first stage had been completed, the UDC then officially designated a policy department or stream under the president’s office.  He said this was at the same time as all other UDC office bearers were appointed.  He explained: “It was this policy office that was mandated, at a special UDC members’ meeting held in Francistown, to receive policy input from commissions established at that gathering, and other input from members across Botswana, so as to synthesise it and develop a manifesto that could inspire change in Botswana.”

He said the policy office received submissions from individuals and associations from a broad spectrum that included unions, teachers, nurses, people living with disabilities, young people, business people and other segments within the population of Botswana. 

The policy office also assigned several experts and specialists to look into the practicality of some of the policy expectations and demands of the people - and advise on how they could achieve these within their various constraints as a country.

“Once this was done, our (UDC) leadership decided we should publicise the draft, especially the pillars so as to test if that is what people really believed could bring change, and to afford people yet another opportunity to contribute. By this time we were confident that we had listened long and hard to our people.”

He said: “We had done enough homework on the feasibility of our approach and were equally confident that we had fomented a Manifesto that could inspire change and cause our nation to take a new leap in the standard of living of our people.  It was a manifesto that allowed every citizen to believe they can dream and achieve their dreams for themselves and to make Botswana great.”

He said there are five pillars - the education beehive, a clean and effective government, a humming economy, no one is left out and secure and fulfilled families.  The manifesto elaborates on each of them.

For example regarding schools, the UDC views that there is much that schools and their management can do for themselves to inculcate a culture of excellence without having to wait for instructions from a higher, more sluggish authority.  “It is necessary for schools to be empowered to develop human resource, operations and budgeting management capabilities,” said Gaolathe. “In this way it is possible for them to make decisions and implement them efficiently and effectively.  “This is what we need to cultivate high morale among teachers and ultimately be able to produce the capable, well-rounded student with technical/practical skills and initiative,” Gaolathe said.

He asserted that the manifesto emphasises on what they believe is readily achievable, and that is every student will have to learn an additional language other than their mother tongue. 

This means a Setswana speaking student should as a minimum also be able to speak one of Hambukushu, Otjiherero, Sesubiya or any other Botswana language.  This is intended to unite Botswana even more through cultural experiences of one another. 

“We do not take up the issue of teaching students in their mother tongue, at least at this stage, although we do concede that it is something that others believe is necessary,” he said.  This way the UDC policy and that of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) on this matter are not identical, he said. On a systematic, integrated infrastructure expansion plan Gaolathe said that they are not aware of a map similar to that of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). 

“Yes the BDP has many infrastructure plans but they are disjointed and we are not sure if they weave into each other, complement each other or enhance each other,” he said. 

“Our plan is systematic, thematic and integrated and speaks to four objectives - supporting and enhancing existing business, inspiring new entrepreneurial avenues, enhancing the nation’s current competencies and supporting a quality of life for our people.  We list projects to be undertaken under each of these themes.  It is mainly under this last theme that we state intentions for serving large pockets of land mainly for housing needs,” he said.